Mass Effect 3

This is two weeks old, but I didn't see it until last night and found it interesting. It's a series of video interviews that Game Informer did about Mass Effect in general as well as some info on ME3. I'm really excited about Casey Hudson's claim that the game will have climaxes for as many plots as they can fit, not just the Reaper story.

Whatever happens, I think it's unlikely that if Legion was lost that the Geth will simply send a new custom mobile platform to join the crew.

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You're thinking in terms of character motivation and verisimilitude, which is fine. I'm thinking in practical terms: whether Legion was killed or not, he can be brought back to Shepard's team with just one or two lines of dialogue.

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Sure, it's not like with Wrex where they have to make up a stand-in character. Because it's a synthetically generated voice anyway they can just use the same voice actor, with a few alternate lines. How much of an impact that may or may not have depends of course on how big a role he and the Geth in general will play. Personally I think it's more likely he'll be in a similar role as Wrex was in ME2, little more than a cameo as Shep's main go-between.

This is two weeks old, but I didn't see it until last night and found it interesting. It's a series of video interviews that Game Informer did about Mass Effect in general as well as some info on ME3. I'm really excited about Casey Hudson's claim that the game will have climaxes for as many plots as they can fit, not just the Reaper story.

Interesting stuff. I like how they're continuing to improve on the sound design. The weapon sfx in ME2 were already an massive improvement over the originals'. I may be alone in this but I though the ME1 gunfire sounded oddly flat, muffled and a bit on the quiet side. The sharper reports much better I think and the new dynamic environmental tweaking sounds like it could really enhance the feeling of being in an open or enclosed space.

Also nice to hear that they're working on what quarrians actually look like inside those suits. Personally I'm not sure if I want to see them; there's something to be said for maintaining the mystique. Sort of the old "something terrible scratching at the door" effect. So long as you don't see it, the monster behind the door can be anything, but once you open it and see a 6ft cockroach then they mystery is gone and it least it wasn't a 9ft cockroach. No matter what design they come up with for Tali's face, it's never going to meet everyone's expectations or collective imaginations.

PC Gamer is publishing a series of articles on ME3. The three articles so far (the top three links) are on returning characters, love interests, and how enemy combat will change. They contain some minor spoilers. The largest spoiler is an enemy type that will be showing up, in the "tactical targeting" article. One of the article titles does directly spoil a returning character (though if you didn't see it coming, you're either an idiot or have payed no attention to fan response).

Overall, these articles are short and pretty slim on details. Actually, I find the Bioware people (person?) giving these interviews to be rather repellent. They are probably largely responsible for my negative view of the game so far. That said, these three articles have increased my interest a bit. (/crotchety)

Overall, these articles are short and pretty slim on details. Actually, I find the Bioware people (person?) giving these interviews to be rather repellent. They are probably largely responsible for my negative view of the game so far. That said, these three articles have increased my interest a bit. (/crotchety)

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So... you dislike Casey Hudson, the producer of the games? And why would the interviews make you view the game in a negative light?

As for the articles; nothing really new besides a confirmation that Tali (assuming you didn't get her killed) will be back as a permanent squad member while Wrex probably won't. Neither are really surprising as Tali has been with Shep in the first two already and depending on how Shep handled her trial in ME2, she may not exactly have anywhere else left to go. As for Wrex, that makes sense too. He's a little bit to important now to waste time following around some squishy human.

^ I always got a certain vibe with Tali when playing as FemShep, especially in some of the ME2 dialogues. She certainly loves her, although one could argue that it's more of a platonic kind of love.

Also, even as a straight guy, the bisexuality of Hawke was somewhat of a redeeming feature of DAII for me. I have bashed that game quite a lot (rightfully in some ways, less so in others), but in this I think BioWare is on the right track. Whatever you're into, equal romancing rights for everyone!

I have absolutely no problems with them introducing same-sex romances, it just seems kind of strange doing it now after they'd refused to do so in the first two games and had given excuses like "Shepard is straight" or "Mass Effect is more of a third person story where you're playing a specific character, rather than a first person game like Dragon Age where you're playing your own character," etc. I'm glad that the people who want same-sex romances for their playthroughs will now have them, it's just the timing that surprises me.

So... you dislike Casey Hudson, the producer of the games? And why would the interviews make you view the game in a negative light?

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As I've made mention to, they seem to be appealing to basically the same audience as Bulletstorm ("look how awesome we are!"). It comes off as forced and fake, and highly repugnant. Someone with a less annoying interview style would probably leave a better impression on me.

Now, let me be clear, short of an absolute PR meltdown, they've pretty well already got my money. After the first two games, the bait is so far up my gumline I have little hope of getting off this hook.

But right now my impression is that this game is going to be awful. Maybe as poor an outing as Dragon Age, which is one of my top disappointments. Believe me when I say I hope I'm way off the mark.

I have absolutely no problems with them introducing same-sex romances, it just seems kind of strange doing it now after they'd refused to do so in the first two games and had given excuses like "Shepard is straight" or "Mass Effect is more of a third person story where you're playing a specific character, rather than a first person game like Dragon Age where you're playing your own character," etc. I'm glad that the people who want same-sex romances for their playthroughs will now have them, it's just the timing that surprises me.

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I remember reading somewhere that there may have been a problem with the person who lent his likeness for the default maleShep objecting to his face being used to portray a gay sex scene. No idea if there's anything to that and if it is true he has apparantly changed his mind (possibly after having some money waved under his nose) or the lawyers decided he can't do anything to stop it.

Additionally, I think someone did actually find the (possibly incomplete) unused audio files in ME2 for a femShep/Miranda romance and possibly a femShep/Tali one too. No idea if there were an equivalent set of maleShep files though. I think the story behind that was that Bioware initially planned to give players the option for a same sex relationship but someone (probably at EA) got cold feet late in the game and made them pull it. Not surprising given the fuss that a few morons kicked up for ME1's gratuitous use of side-boob and arse cracks. What's probably changed that view may have something to do with DAII allowing Hawk to shag anything that moves and nobody appeared to care this time around.

While I'm happy the options will be there, I can't say as it'll affect my personal playthroughs. Though I like to think of myself as open minded and comfortable with my sexuality; when I did a playthrough with a femShep and decided she'd have a romance with Jacob...there was something about his romance dialogue that just made my skin crawl. Maybe I'm not as comfortable as I thought or maybe if was the voice actor. Either way, I think romancing a male just isn't too my taste.

...Still, I'm sure at least one of my femSheps would definatly pounce on Tali given the opportunity.

As I've made mention to, they seem to be appealing to basically the same audience as Bulletstorm ("look how awesome we are!"). It comes off as forced and fake, and highly repugnant. Someone with a less annoying interview style would probably leave a better impression on me.

Now, let me be clear, short of an absolute PR meltdown, they've pretty well already got my money. After the first two games, the bait is so far up my gumline I have little hope of getting off this hook.

But right now my impression is that this game is going to be awful. Maybe as poor an outing as Dragon Age, which is one of my top disappointments. Believe me when I say I hope I'm way off the mark.

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I'm having trouble seeing where you're getting this pervasive sense of "repugnance" from. The interview style appears fairly straight-forward to me and that's a pretty strong term to throw around without a clear qualification.

As for the content, I think it's to be expected at this rather early stage for them to stick with baiting people with potential eyecandy, a few cool new features and the general assurance that they'll be improving what worked and won't be making the same mistakes twice. It's just good PR.

Actually, I'm surprised that they're being as specific as they are at this stage, but then I suppose there's less mystery this time around in terms of story as anyone who's played ME 1&2 can make some fairly reasonable guesses as to what's going on.

Additionally, I think someone did actually find the (possibly incomplete) unused audio files in ME2 for a femShep/Miranda romance and possibly a femShep/Tali one too. No idea if there were an equivalent set of maleShep files though. I think the story behind that was that Bioware initially planned to give players the option for a same sex relationship but someone (probably at EA) got cold feet late in the game and made them pull it. Not surprising given the fuss that a few morons kicked up for ME1's gratuitous use of side-boob and arse cracks. What's probably changed that view may have something to do with DAII allowing Hawk to shag anything that moves and nobody appeared to care this time around.

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I seem to recall mention of unused audio in ME1 that had Kaidan/Ashley originally included as same-sex romance options, too, but either that was wrong or they changed their minds. That was before EA, too, so I don't think the exclusion in ME2 was because of EA.

Though I like to think of myself as open minded and comfortable with my sexuality; when I did a playthrough with a femShep and decided she'd have a romance with Jacob...there was something about his romance dialogue that just made my skin crawl.

^Possibly. Though to be perfectly honest I think Garrus is a little too high maintenance for Shep. Male or female.

After thinking about it for a bit, I'm not sure I agree with the idea that it'd be out of character for Tali to be attracted to femShep. For one thing, all notions of attraction, regardless of gender goes right out the window when it comes to interactions with alien species. Now to a quarrian in particular, they spend most of their lives not even seeing each other's faces and anything even approaching nudity outside of a sterile clean room is as good as a death sentence. So even among their own kind attraction isn't going to be based on physical characteristics, it'll be based on personality and emotional bonds. Tali clearly has a serious case of hero worship for Shep (male or female) so it shouldn't be out of character. It's not as if human sexual dimorphism would matter much to any other species but humans.